What you're watching

Mitchell Guist dies: Will brother Glenn stay on 'Swamp People'?

May 17, 2012 | 2:49
pm

As History prepares to pay tribute to fallen costar Mitchell Guist on tonight's "Swamp People," it's unclear whether his grieving brother will stay with the show next season.

Glenn Guist was virtually inseparable from his brother, who died suddenly this week at age 47 after a fall on his boat in Louisiana's Intracoastal Waterway. Executive producer Brian Catalina told Show Tracker on Thursday that no decisions have been made yet regarding Glenn's future on the hit reality series about Cajun alligator hunters.The current season will run into the summer; fresh episodes will be shot in August and September, which is prime gator-hunting season.

"This is a really hard time for Glenn," said Catalina, who is traveling to Gonzales, La., for Mitchell Guist's Saturday funeral, which will be public. "Our concern is for Glenn's well-being."

Producers were astounded by the outpouring of emotion from fans after Mitchell's death, Catalina said. "These guys connected us to so much rich history in the basin," he said. "The way it was 75 years ago, 100 years ago."

The cable network has created a brief montage of Glenn's scenes on the show that will run with Thursday's new episode.

Meanwhile, the coroner determined from a preliminary autopsy that Mitchell died from "natural causes," although a more specific cause of death may not be known for weeks, according to Catalina.

The funeral home handling Guist's services included a message from Mitchell's family to their departed brother: "One day you'll kill that big buck."

Do you think Glenn Guist should stay on "Swamp People"? Sound off in the comments.